


allay your tempest now

by Mia_Zeklos



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: 18th Century, Alternate Universe, Background Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood, I'm just picking this century for the ship aesthetic okay, M/M, Rating May Change, Sirens, or at least a vague alternate timeline of it where sirens are a thing and homophobia is not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-24 20:37:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13818978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mia_Zeklos/pseuds/Mia_Zeklos
Summary: Alexander Lightwood - a merchant's son and the Captain of his family's ships - is the only known sailor born with the ability to resist a siren's song. When his sister saves one of them from captivity, he takes it upon himself to help make things fall into place. For Isabelle's sake, of course. It's only the right thing to do. Who he meets along the way is in no way relevant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> /Title taken from [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEaoMVjefZ8)/
> 
> So! This has been in the works for quite a while now, but it's actually rather different from the original idea that I had. The backstory of it will unfurl as it goes; for now, all you really need to know is that I don't know as much about merchant ships in the 18th century as I wish I did. I hope this is enjoyable nonetheless. Feedback is welcome as always!

The sun had already set by the time everyone had finally gone inside. They trusted their Captain when he told them about the creatures that swam in these parts of the sea – he was the only one who had gone through it unscathed, after all – and there was no shame in having the common sense to protect themselves when they needed to.

Alec, however, hadn’t followed their example. As the only one immune to the sirens and their calls, it was his duty to try and guess how long it would last this time; if he would have to tell his men to keep hiding well into the morning on the whim of the monsters.

The trouble was, of course, that they didn’t resemble monsters at all. Alec had seen that easily enough when his sister had fallen in love with one of them and even if the circumstances back then had been different – the siren in question had been captured by a circus and had only met her outside of the water, when Isabelle had decided to free her – he was still suspicious every time he saw her. He could tell that she wasn’t using her voice to control her, but unlike him, his sister was all too susceptible to their magic. Some of the doubt would always linger, Alec had resigned himself to that, even if he would never say it outright.

Instead, he’d let them both be and had left on his next voyage. It had been months in the planning and the preparation alone had taken just as long and he would not let it all go to hell just because of the dangerous territories they had to pass through.

He didn’t even need to do anything to chase them away, really; he just had to make sure they stayed at a safe distance from everyone else. He sat down on one of the benches near the main deck and let the cool breeze that always followed the sunset during summer wash over him, gentle and almost soothing despite the undeniable tang of magic in the air.

Soon enough, the silence around him was broken in a way that was almost expected – _anticipated_ – by now. The wind carried faint laughter with itself this time and Alec smiled despite himself.

Much to his surprise, the sirens didn’t seem to feel any resentment towards him despite the oddity of his situation. If anything, they _liked_ him for his ability to have an actual conversation with them and Alec indulged them occasionally out of boredom more than anything else. The tales they told were always intriguing and never failed to fascinate him and with time, he had become used to their presence.

That didn’t mean that they couldn’t still surprise him on occasion; not at all. It was going to be one of those nights, he realised rather abruptly – before he had even had the chance to try and enjoy his peace and quiet, his attention was drawn to the hands gripping the edge of his ship, going white with the effort as their owner tried to come into view.

The face that followed was nothing like any of the ones Alec could have expected. It was distinctly _male_ and really, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The siren’s hair was pushed to the back, still dripping wet, the sides of his head shaved like a pirate’s and Alec would have almost thought him to be human if it hadn’t been for the gills that quickly disappeared into his skin now that he was above the surface, and the haunting combination of the colours in his eyes. He was as beautiful as the rest of them, only somehow _more_ so; the strange magnetic power that Alec had only ever heard stories about suddenly clicking into place.

“Hello,” the siren said at last, voice still raspy in a way Alec knew came with the use of his lungs for the first time in a while. “You must be Alexander Lightwood.”

It was typical for those of the Fair Folk to use full names with the sole purpose of intimidating humans – the ones living outside on the surface were quite similar in that regard – but Alec didn’t flinch. “I am.”

“You would have to be, to still be out here.” The man pulled himself up even further until his elbows were resting where his hands had been and Alec reached for his sword on reflex despite the siren’s nonchalant tone. “And I heard stories about you and Isabelle; that you’re very similar in looks. Are you aware that your sister is keeping mine hostage?”

The accusation was enough to bring Alec out of his stupor and he stood up to near the creature that had suddenly invaded his territory. He knew what this was about and some part of him had expected it to happen. “She did nothing of the sort,” he said, voice wary as he approached. “Clary was captured by someone else— by a travelling circus. Izzy was the one who freed her. She stayed on her own free will; she even promised to visit her home sometimes. Perhaps she will the next time Isabelle is at sea.”

A moment of silence followed and Alec suspected that the man was trying to tell if he was lying. They couldn’t always tell, but their guesses were usually close enough.

“Perhaps.” The siren didn’t want to let his surprise show, it was clear as day, but he didn’t move from his place. “She must be very unusual, your Isabelle, to want to keep a siren around. And so are you, if the rumours are to be believed.”

“And what rumours would those be?” This was nothing like the conversations he usually had with the sea monsters in these parts and he should have chased him away already, but Alec had always been curious when it came to what lived in the depths. Plus, what harm could it do? The man couldn’t affect him either way.

“They say that you can survive a one of our songs.” The siren’s mismatched eyes were assessing him carefully even in the slowly descending dusk of the evening. “That you can refuse our call, no matter how tempting the offers you receive are.”

“It’s just words,” Alec shrugged, trying to shake away the feeling that the scrutiny was giving him. “I could never understand how anyone could be tempted at all.”

“But your sister is, isn’t she?” There was a calculating gleam in the look he received now. “But all of us, too, men and women alike.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Alec admitted. “I had never met a male siren before, and neither has she, as far as I can remember.”

“You have now,” the man informed him cheerfully and Alec bit back a sigh. They always understood everything so literally and he had given up trying to explain how the majority of the sailors spoke a while ago. “I’m Jace.”

“Hello, Jace.” Alec extended his arm for a handshake, driven mostly by habit, only to have the siren’s eyes widen in alarm as he pulled away. “What—”

It was no use; before he’d even attempted to finish his sentence, there was a loud _splash_ and just like that, Jace was gone.

***

The next day, there was no wind. It was quieter than Alec ever remembered it being and trying to make any progress in this kind of weather would be fruitless, so they didn’t even try.

It was a long day. Without the usual movement, the surface of the ship was scorching hot and there was no way Alec would try to make his men row forward when he knew just how painful it would be. No, they’d just have to wait this out; no reason to resort to solutions that would drain their food and water supply much more quickly. They weren’t transporting anything perishable anyway.

And so they waited. In the hottest hours of the day, everyone but Alec had retreated to their respective cabin to seek refuge from the unforgiving sun while he paced back and forth, too lost in thought to get any actual rest.

This was his fault, there was no doubt about it. After Jace had vanished last night, no one else had appeared – highly unusual for these parts of the sea. In fact, it had been so quiet that he had managed to get a full night of sleep even without going back to his bed and Alec couldn’t help but wonder what it was about his behaviour that had offended Jace and his kin so much. And if they really _were_ offended, why did they want to keep them here? They could have summoned a storm instead and, if it was vicious enough, it could have drowned them all. What kind of scorned creature wanted to keep the source of the offence so close to their home?

Alec got his answer later the same day, minutes after he’d started dozing off while leaning against his wheel. It made sense that a siren would choose a time when his mind was so hazy, he couldn’t help but notice; they were always ready to use anything they could to their advantage.

He thought Jace to be a dream at first, mainly because he couldn’t see him. He could hear his voice as if floating from above, scattered in the air around him like the specks of water that came with sailing, but unlike the water, he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from and it was more frustrating than he had expected it to be.

“I thought you said it wasn’t Isabelle’s people who kidnapped my sister.”

“It wasn’t them.” The words came out mumbled and indistinct and Alec cleared his throat as he forced himself to wake up fully and open his eyes. “I told you; there was a circus—”

“And how can I be sure that you’re not a part of it?” Jace was in his field of vision now, leaning against the side of the ship once again, yesterday’s curiosity his piercing gaze entirely replaced by hostility.

“Why would you even _think_ that?” Alec heavily suspected that the fact that he’d been asleep until now was making this even harder than it needed to be, but he still had to ask. “I haven’t done anything to you.”

Jace frowned, perplexed. “I thought— the day Clary was taken, she was talking to a sailor. She tried to enchant him, but he had some kind of potion that was supposed to protect him and he just— he pulled her up on board of his ship once she came close enough. We never saw her again.”

So _this_ was what it was all about. “I wanted to shake your hand,” Alec said, something a bit hysterical bubbling up behind the words despite his best efforts. “It’s what people _do_ when they meet someone new. Has no one ever told you?”

“No one lingers around enough for me to learn their _customs_.” Jace seemed vaguely embarrassed now, even if he wasn’t letting it show fully. “They either run or get affected by our magic. How was I expected to know—”

“You could have said something,” Alec noted, still inordinately amused by the rather surreal exchange. If anyone from his crew saw him like this, they would have considered him mad and he couldn’t be sure that they wouldn’t be right. But there was something bothering him, something he couldn’t really ignore, and, “I wanted to tell you last night— Clary told us all about you. I didn’t realise when you said that she was your sister because she refers that way to all of you, but when you said your name... She misses you. She even wanted to come with me this time around so that she could visit, but we weren’t sure if it would be safe for her to leave the manor yet.”

“Manor?” Jace repeated. He’d come even closer now, emboldened by the unspoken peace offering.

“It’s a house.” Alec didn’t have the faintest idea what kind of homes the sirens had, but they had to have _something_ , right? “A big one. It’s— It’s got gardens and ponds and there’s more than enough space for her, but she says she misses the sea.”

“Of course she does. You must bring her with you when you come next.” Jace’s tone was imperious now, almost like an order. “She was captured once, but she won’t let it happen again. Tell her—”

One of the doors behind Alec’s back creaked open and he didn’t get the chance to hear the rest of the message or to promise to deliver it; Jace’s reaction to the sudden change of the circumstances as strong as it had been last night.

Distantly aware that he was being spoken to, Alec stared after him. For an instant, he was sure that he’d caught a glimpse of something golden and gleaming; something that resembled a tail far too much to be anything else.

***

For the first time in years, Alec was at a crossroads. The issue with the wind still persisted, the men were starting to wonder whether there was a reason for it and while he was painfully aware that he couldn’t tell them anything, it was just so _difficult_ to keep quiet. They admired him for his abilities as a leader and for his immunity to the sirens and their powers – even the ones he kept on board without any closeness from either side respected him because of his father’s name – but everyone would draw the line at actually trying to communicate with the creatures lurking below the surface, there was no doubt about that. No one would stand for it, not even if it got them out of their current situation.

And so naturally, while still unsure whether it was the right choice to make, Alec tried to orchestrate another meeting. He waited until everyone else got tired of staying out in the heat anticipating a change in the weather; until it was so late that he was sure they were all asleep already. When that time finally came, he wandered out on the quarterdeck again and took his place, settling in on the spot where he spent the nights that consisted of watching over the ship.

What he wouldn’t have given to be able to tell Izzy about all of this. She was frighteningly fascinated by the sirens, always had been, and it was strange given how easily affected she was by them, but Alec had got used to it a long time ago. She would be _thrilled_ by all of this, and she would share it all with Clary, and then maybe—

“Are you heading home, Alexander?”

Alec didn’t jump – he was always alert, especially when on duty – but he still couldn’t mask his surprise entirely at the sound of Jace’s voice. “Yes. Why?”

“I would like to follow you there, if you wouldn’t mind.” He didn’t give Alec the time to say that he would, in fact, mind, likely suspecting that outcome and preferring to cut him off beforehand. “No one else has to know, _please_. You don’t know when your sister will travel again, and I don’t know when it will be safe for Clary to swim or stay on land as she pleases. If you have really met her, you would know that we can disguise ourselves as human if we need to. No one will even notice me.”

This was a disaster waiting to happen. Alec was used to thinking things through, calculating every possible outcome of every decision, and there wasn’t one direction that this could go into that wouldn’t be potentially dangerous for everyone involved.

But at the same time, if their places had been switched – if this had been about Isabelle – he would have wanted the exact same thing. He couldn’t refuse. If he did and something _did_ happen to Clary in the meantime, he would never be able to live with the thought of it. He had seen enough to be aware of just how similar the sirens they were to them and there was no way he was going to ignore a plea for help when he saw one.

“I can’t be responsible for you,” he warned, trying to stay stern even as Jace’s face lit up. “You’ll have take care of yourself no matter what happens, do you understand?” A quick, eager nod. “And you can only stay here when I’m around. You can’t appear around the ship otherwise.”

“Understood,” Jace said and even if the agreement was all too quick, the gesture that followed – a hand extended towards Alec, as if this were a business deal – was enough to prove just how serious he was. “I’ll find a way to repay you for this.”

“You don’t need to,” Alec hurried to say, not too willing to become familiar with the kind of rewards sirens opted for. “Just don’t get in my way.”

It wasn’t an overly encouraging start, he admitted to himself, but then again, it didn’t need to be. It was a _promise_ and as long as that was enough for both of them, nothing else really mattered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mainly exposition and 2 am conversations; I won't even pretend otherwise. I just needed them to get to know each other a little better before I proceeded, which is why this fic might actually get an additional chapter /also, as a side note: I sincerely apologise for any formatting mishaps: this was not posted in the easiest of ways/
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy it and feedback is always welcome!

“Do you understand what it means to be _quiet_?” Alec wondered aloud when he spotted Jace in his peripheral vision. He was breaking his own rules by talking to him at all, of course – he was definitely better off ignoring him, especially considering how that only seemed to encourage the siren to stick around longer.

“I do,” Jace said, hands bracing against the side of the ship as he pulled himself up on board. Although he was learning more and more about the way humans communicated on a day to day basis the more time he spent with Alec, sarcasm and rhetorical questions were still usually lost on him. “I think we’re being secretive enough for no one to catch on, don’t you? Although it shouldn’t really matter,” he added, clearly not too interested in the response. “In my experience, most men wouldn’t be affected by my presence here in the slightest.”

This was one of the first things Jace had explained to him about a siren’s songs: along with bringing out all the ambition and greed out of people, it was mainly based on physical attraction. That did nothing to clear Alec’s confusion on his own situation – while it made sense that all the sirens he had seen in his life before wouldn’t be able to entice him, Jace would have most likely achieved it if that was the issue. He had voiced his thoughts on the matter almost immediately – the siren seemed aware enough of his own beauty to not be surprised by the admission anyway – but Jace had just shrugged it away. _Perhaps you were just born under a lucky star, Alec Lightwood_ , he had said simply and had then proceeded to drop the topic.

“It’s not the magic itself that bothers them; it’s your entire species.” This was another aspect of their communication: Alec had realised early on that trying to be delicate around Jace was a lost cause. He despised the majority of the human race as much as it despised him and didn’t even try to hide that, either aware that Alec wouldn’t take offence or not caring about the possibility of it. “Everything about the sight of you equals death even if you don’t bring more sirens with yourself. I know that you’re on your own,” he hurried to say at the sight of Jace’s affronted expression, “but _they_ don’t. And they’ll never understand why I allowed this in the first place.”

_I barely understand it sometimes_. Alec didn’t say it, but it was all the same anyway – Jace made a sound that seemed to express some strange mixture of sympathy and mockery and it was enough of a sign that he’d understood.

About a month had passed since they had first met and in the following weeks, Jace hadn’t given him a moment of peace. Whenever the crew grew quiet for one reason or another and it was clear that Alec was the only one outside of his cabin, the siren was there; making conversation and telling him stories about his family and his people in exchange of every little piece of information he could gather about the world that the humans inhabited.

Last night had been particularly interesting: Alec had tried to explain him the way musical instruments worked above the surface and Jace had been so enthralled by the story that they had both almost missed the sound of someone coming out to ask who Alec was talking to. Jace had managed to vanish just in time, but it had been a close thing; too close for either of their tastes. He had gone back inside right after he’d managed to explain himself, mainly in the hopes that Jace would get the hint and try to stay low in the recent future.

He hadn’t. _Of course_ he hadn’t – instead, he had just wanted to learn more about the music and had been insistent enough that he had actually showed up in broad daylight once or twice during the day, trying to catch Alec’s attention in the worst possible moments. He had only disappeared after several hissed threats on Alec’s side that their deal was off if he didn’t learn to behave, but it had still been a stressful few hours after that until Alec had found himself alone outside of his cabin.

His men already suspected that there was something off about him this time around; he could see it in their eyes. They did trust him, but they were also worried about him and the looks they gave him were ones Alec had seen too many times to count, even if they had never been directed at him before. _Something happened that night_ , he had heard Edward Penhallow say just a few days ago during breakfast when they’d all thought that their Captain wasn’t around to hear. _I don’t know what it is, but it’s something big_.

The rest of the crew had tried to disprove him soon afterward, but there had been hesitation in that too. They all knew what Edward was talking about – the night when they’d first heard the sirens. Alec had managed to convince them all of his immunity to their songs years ago, but it was only natural for some disbelief to still linger – after all, if it hadn’t been him, Alec doubted that he would have believed it either.

“It doesn’t matter how they feel about anything; you’re the Captain. May I?” Jace pointed to the empty space next to him and Alec nodded, pointedly trying not to look as the siren carefully arranged his heavy tail so that it wouldn’t hinder him if he tried to get away quickly later on.

“That’s not how it works,” Alec said with a sigh, trying to rub the exhaustion away from his eyes. That played its part in his men’s suspicions about his condition too, he supposed: he hadn’t been getting nearly enough sleep for a while now and it was starting to show. “I’m the one who has the last word, yes, but I do need to listen to them when they give me advice. Otherwise they wouldn’t have a reason to trust me to always do what’s best for them.”

“You could benefit from having a taste of absolute power,” Jace shrugged, leaning back against the bench in obvious relief, enough to make Alec wonder if swimming was as tiring for him as it would be for a human. “It would suit you quite well, I think.”

“You would know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Alec had tried to drill a single command into his mind when it came to Jace – don’t get too comfortable – but the teasing edge that slipped into his voice despite that was clear as day anyway. “You said your grandmother was the queen of your city.”

“She is, but I’ve barely spent any time with her. And that’s not why I know that you would make a good leader.” Jace leant onto his shoulder as he spoke. This complete lack of respect for personal space was yet another thing that felt entirely alien, but Alec had yet to object to it. “It’s just— I’ve seen you with your men. You’re doing a wonderful job. Even if you _did_ command them entirely, they would have no reason to doubt you.”

“You sound like my sister,” Alec scoffed. It wasn’t that he didn’t agree; if he had to be honest with himself, the only issue was that he had never been taught to be able to trust a siren’s judgement. _They always say what they think you want to hear_ , his father had always warned him before he had realised that his son would never have to go through what the majority of his fellow voyagers had always feared. “What do you know about leadership if you haven’t been taught anything about it?”

“Oh, I have.” Jace’s face, usually so expressive, had closed off somewhat now. “It just wasn’t from my grandmother. Have you ever heard of Valentine Morgenstern? He was quite famous at the time I was rescued.”

Not without a little reluctance, Alec nodded. This – all of this, their conversations and the trust they’d somehow established – was all so _delicate_ ; one wrong move and it could fall apart. “My parents worked for him before, when they were still pirates. I never realised he’d ever captured a siren.”

“No one realised at the time either.” Jace’s smile was a little wistful now. “Everyone knew that he was a little— _extreme_ , of course, but no one would have ever guessed that he was doing anything of this scale. It was all experiments, because of his _scientific interest_.” There was so much venom in the expression; more than Alec had ever heard even in the siren’s most impassioned threats concerning the people who had taken Clary away. “I wasn’t the only one, but I was the only one who got away. One day, when he’d anchored the ship during a raid, one of his men opened my cage and told me to leave as quickly as I could; it didn’t matter where. I never looked back. But what I actually wanted to tell you,” he went on, as if he was trying to shake the memories off, “was that Valentine was a leader. His people followed him – either because he’d convinced them that he was right or because they were afraid of him. Sometimes it was both. It didn’t matter in the end – the ones who decided that it was too much for them abandoned him and you can be sure that they never looked back either. But you?” Jace gestured at the ship vaguely. “That’s not what you’re like. The fact that they dare to question you is enough to mean that they don’t need to."

“That doesn’t make any sense.” It was easier to say that instead of trying to pretend that Jace’s story – short and offhanded as it had been – hadn’t shaken him to the core. Alec wasn’t easily impressed, not after all the years he’d spent at sea, but he had never expected anything of this scale. Now that he thought about it, this explained Jace’s caution better than anything else ever had: this was _fresh_. He had to be around Alec’s age – another bit of information he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with.

“Maybe it doesn’t to you.” Jace’s smile reached his eyes this time when he looked up to meet Alec’s. “You live in a whole other world, after all. I thought Clary might have told you something about the differences.”

Alec shook his head. “I haven’t really talked to her all that much. I didn’t trust her,” he clarified. He couldn’t hide much from Jace anyway; it was better to just be honest with him outright. “You said it yourself. I might be safe, but my sister isn’t. I wasn’t sure whether she really wanted to help her or if Clary was using her to get out.”

Jace pursed his lips. “Even if that had been the case, could you really blame her?”

“Usually? No. But this is about my sister.” It was easy to be honest about _this_ – to tell him that he valued his family above everything else. It was something he needed Jace to know anyway, if he was going to spend any amount of time in his home when they arrived. And it wasn't just that: the same drive that made him want to share stories with the siren now urged him to confide in him again. “I would put anyone’s safety on the line if it meant protecting her.”

“From what I’ve heard, she does a fine job protecting herself. She would like our kingdom, I think, if she is adventurous enough to save a siren. I’m not planning anything nefarious,” Jace continued, as if _amused_ by Alec’s tension at the idea. “Sirens can exist in at least two shapes and we’re capable of granting those powers to people of our choosing if we so wish. It’s supposed to be used for when we take human husbands or wives with us, but it wouldn’t be the first – or the last – time someone has used that magic for a more— temporary effect, just to entertain their lover.”

“I was meaning to ask, actually,” Alec ventured, still not entirely sure if it was even _acceptable_ to have similar questions. “Is that the same magic that allows you to look human? Apart from you and Clary, I’ve never seen a siren with a tail.”

“It’s not really a disguise, it’s just,” Jace seemed to struggle for an explanation, “it’s like we can exist in both states. Legs, tail, it doesn’t matter. It’s part of who we are. Tails are intimidating, though, and sailors are much more likely to attack on sight when they see one. They still know what we are when we look more like them, but it’s easier to keep the lie going that way.”

“I thought sirens didn’t believe in lies.” He might have scolded himself again for that, but he wasn’t sure what rule he had broken this time – the one about teasing, or the one about keeping his curiosity in check? Jace’s presence often managed to blur the lines between all the ways that Alec was not supposed to act around him.

“We don’t, but we don’t need to do it either way. Men lie enough for us all, dear Captain.” Alec could only imagine his own expression then, but it must have turned rather sour, because Jace burst out laughing as soon as he glanced in his direction. “To us, to their comrades, to themselves; it's all the same. If we want them dead, they die. That’s all there is to it. And when they lie to themselves, it’s easier to get them to do it without a tail. Tails are only good for the circus, it seems.”

The accusation _stung_ more than Alec would have liked to admit, even if it hadn’t necessarily been directed at him – Jace’s _they_ was enough to lead him to believe that for some reason, he didn’t consider him a part of the same crowd.

It only made sense, of course – he was _immune_. No one else he had ever known or loved was, though, and it was almost painful to be kept in the dark, so, “What happens afterwards?” Jace’s eyes darkened, but Alec soldiered on. He _had_ to know, although he wasn’t entirely sure why that was. “After you make them see their heart’s desire and they follow you into the water – what happens to them afterwards?”

“Sometimes they become consorts, if the siren who captured them is feeling merciful,” Jace said. He sounded unsure, suddenly, as if he didn’t know whether this was something he was supposed to share with a mortal. “Then they live a life better than anyone in the world outside could offer them. If not, they die minutes later; it doesn’t take any longer than it takes a human to drown. Their souls become part of the defences built around our city and they remain there forever.”

“This is,” Alec was at a loss. “All these people—”

“It’s not a bad way to go.” Jace’s tone almost resembled pleading now, like he was as desperate for Alec to believe him as Alec was to _understand_. “And definitely not a bad way to spend the rest of eternity. It’s a beautiful place.” He leant in, the hand bracing itself on the bench between them moving to Alec’s knee. “I wasn’t trying to trick you – if your sister was so enthralled by Clary, she would _love_ Alicante. And so would you, I think. The towers around the city are so tall that they catch all the sunlight that we could ever need and during summer, it looks like it’s all covered in silver flames. Everything is far more delicate than it is here: your sword is one of the best that money can buy you, but there we have things you haven’t ever dreamt of. And the things that live in the coral woods and between the rocks!” Jace’s face had brightened with delight at the memory and Alec couldn’t – didn’t even _try_ to – look away. “You could spend a lifetime exploring them and it still wouldn’t be enough.”

“I think you’re right.” Alec cleared his throat when his voice came out hoarse and almost unrecognisable. “I would love to see it.”

Jace pulled away from him, the movement as sudden as it had been when they had first met - as if the touch had burned him. “I thought you said I couldn’t affect you.” There was a decent amount of _offence_ in his tone and if the circumstances had been any different, Alec thought he might have laughed at how ridiculous that was. As it were, he just reached out again, hand covering Jace’s in what he hoped was an encouraging gesture. “I _sang_ for you; you said that it made no difference.”

“It didn’t.” Alec had heard stories about what _nearly_ being captured by a siren was like and he didn’t feel anything remotely like it, although for a moment, he desperately wished that that had been the case – the alternative was significantly more unpleasant. “And nothing changed _now_. You haven’t enchanted me.”

There was a long, dreadfully quiet moment as the tension hung suspended between them. Jace was the first to break the silence.

“No,” he said, fingers tightening around Alec’s. “No, I haven’t.” He looked away, trying to shield his face from view, but it was too late: even with the moon as the only thing illuminating the scenery, it was easy to see how flustered he was. “Well, then,” he said, far more flippantly than the startled look in his eyes suggested, “maybe I should take you to Alicante with me one day, Alec Lightwood.”

It was a promise, not a threat, Alec thought in dismay, and that wasn’t even the worst part of it. It was his own response, as sure as it was terrified, that made him feel significantly worse.

“I would love that.”


End file.
